It must all be a dream.
Waking up to find myself suddenly in a woman’s body, the fox woman who appeared covered in blood, and… the fact that I had fainted after wetting myself—it must all be a dream.
Realistically, there’s no way something like that could happen, right? Of course it’s all a dream.
So.
“Because my lady was unconscious for such a long time, it would be best for you to move slowly so as not to strain your body. Sudden actions such as running are not good for you.”
“I see… Then is there anything else I should be careful about?”
“You should also avoid stimulating foods. For the time being, it would be best to fill your stomach with porridge or broth. I will prepare some medicine for you, so taking it should be of help.”
When I woke up again, I should not have been hearing a conversation between a physician with round ears on his head and a fox woman.
Why was this dreamlike nonsense still continuing? Had I really possessed some character in a novel?
I did enjoy reading novels, and sometimes I imagined myself becoming the protagonist inside one, but that didn’t mean I actually wanted my imagination to become reality.
Sure, my life was one where I came home from work to a house where no one waited for me, turned on YouTube by myself while shoveling food into my mouth, read a few novels, and fell asleep. But that didn’t mean my entire life needed to be overturned like this.
I just enjoyed having fun daydreams. Things like those posts online asking, “How much money would it take for you to go this far?”
I couldn’t say I was blissfully happy, but I had never thought I was unhappy either. So why?
“My lady. Are you feeling a little more awake?”
An unfamiliar voice spoke to me. The way they had been calling me my lady, my lady since earlier grated on my nerves. I didn’t know who this body was, but I wasn’t that person. I was a stranger.
If I followed my heart, I wanted to shout at them right now not to call me that. I wanted to leave everything to my irritation and temper and just spit it out.
But the image of that enormous fox flickered in my mind. The sight of it looking down at me with its gleaming eyes, opening its huge mouth, kept coming back to me, and I couldn’t get the words out.
In a place I didn’t even know, in a state where I didn’t know who this body was, acting carelessly toward them wouldn’t benefit me in the slightest.
So… I should win their sympathy.
“D-don’t come any closer!”
“My lady? What is the matter? Are you unwell somewhere…?”
As pitifully as possible.
I raised both arms and covered my head as though shielding it, squeezed out a frightened voice, and shrank back.
I didn’t know what kind of place I was in right now, but—
“Where on earth is this? Who are you people? What are you planning to do to me?”
No matter what kind of place it was, memory loss was always a good excuse. I told them I didn’t know anything. That this situation was terrifying.
It wasn’t as though I needed to put on some amazing performance. I really didn’t know anything. I was simply speaking honestly.
Perhaps it had an effect, because the two beings before me looked at each other in confusion.
“Physician…”
“It seems her memories are not intact. I have heard that such symptoms sometimes appear among those who have been unconscious for a long time.”
Apparently, this body had been unconscious for a fairly considerable length of time. So that was why, when I first came to, my entire body had been screaming like that. And I had run in that state. No wonder it hurt.
“My lady. Could you answer my questions?”
At the question from the one called a physician, I cautiously nodded. I had to act as cooperative as possible so I wouldn’t offend them.
The physician’s questions were nothing special.
Could I say my age and name? Did I know today’s date? Could I tell him how many fingers he was holding up? Most of them were questions that should have been simple to answer.
But I had no choice but to shake my head at most of them.
And each time I shook my head, their expressions grew stiffer.
“It seems you are unable to recall most of your memories.”
“My lady, do you truly not remember? I am Hwaya, who has served you since you were young. My lady…”
The fox woman who introduced herself as Hwaya looked as though she might burst into tears at any moment.
Apparently, they had spent quite a long time together, but even when I heard the name Hwaya, nothing came to mind.
Usually, in possession stories, weren’t you supposed to hear a name and suddenly recall the original body’s memories? Or naturally perform etiquette you had never learned before?
If something came to mind, I could at least guess where I had been possessed into. But with nothing coming to me at all, I was at a loss.
“I’m sorry. I can’t remember anything.”
“Why would you be sorry, my lady? It is all my fault. I am sorry. I, hic, failed to serve you properly… and as soon as you woke, I showed you such an unsightly scene…”
The shoulders of the fox woman sobbing as she held my hand trembled faintly. I didn’t know what to do, so I simply looked at her.
But Hwaya soon wiped away the tears she had shed, took a light, deep breath, composed her expression, and showed me a faint smile.
“Hic… I apologize, my lady. I behaved shamefully.”
“It’s all right.”
“Please speak more informally to… No, never mind. My lady. If there is anything you are curious about, please ask freely.”
It seemed like she was about to say something often seen in novels, asking me to drop the formal speech, but for some reason Hwaya changed her words.
I didn’t know why, but it was a relief. Honestly, the way she had looked when I first saw her still came to mind, so I felt uncomfortable. Even now, I was barely managing to speak to her.
Still, I had to ask what needed to be asked.
“Then… please tell me who I am.”
At my question, Hwaya’s ears twitched. Her expression did not change, but for some reason, she looked as though she were crying again.
Still, she answered my question without hesitation.
“My lady is the companion of the master of this place, Horyeongsan (狐靈山), Lady Ho (狐). You are Ryu Su-a.”
“Pardon?”
“Though the formal wedding has not yet taken place, everyone here has already acknowledged and serves my lady as the mistress.”
Since they had kept using the title “my lady,” I had steeled myself for this. I had, but… even if it was a bit forced, I had hoped maybe she was just someone whose name was Ma.
No matter that this body was female, and no matter that I wasn’t the one who decided what status she originally held, suddenly being someone’s wife? There was no way I could accept that.
Because I was a man.
Even if I had suddenly entered a woman’s body, I had served in the army! I was a healthy man whose hand would stop without thinking if something suggestive popped up while scrolling through Shorts!
There was no way someone like me could hear, “You are on the verge of marrying another man and will soon be wed,” and simply say, “Ah, I see,” and move on.
“I… am?”
“Yes, my lady. Though it is still unofficial, even the royal family regards you as Lady Ho. They have already sent ceremonial gifts.”
If the royal family acknowledged it, didn’t that mean everyone just considered it true?
They said the wedding hadn’t happened yet. I didn’t know exactly where I had been possessed into, but if this was at least an Eastern-style world, weren’t they supposed to care about things like preserving chastity until marriage?
Was I inside some romance fantasy novel that had only roughly borrowed the atmosphere?
… Romance fantasy?
“If… if I am Lady Ho…”
As soon as the words romance fantasy came to mind, the contents of all sorts of novels I had read were stitched together in my head.
The unfamiliar ceiling that was a cliché of possession stories, or the servants worrying over the female protagonist.
The atmosphere where memory loss, such a convenient excuse, was easily and simply accepted.
If this place was the world of a romance fantasy—
“My marriage partner is…?”
Who was the male lead?
Ryu Su-a, who seemed likely to be the female protagonist and the woman meant to become his wife, had woken up, yet the only ones keeping watch nearby were Hwaya and the physician.
It wouldn’t have been strange if he had already taken up a place here, appeared before me, and showered me with all sorts of greasy, burdensome lines. But he hadn’t appeared at all. That was strange.
It was hard to say their relationship wasn’t affectionate, considering that her becoming Lady Ho already seemed such a fait accompli.
That question of mine was resolved by a single sentence from Hwaya.
“You have already met him.”
I had already met him? Who on earth?
The only people I had met since waking up here were Hwaya, the other fox beastman beside her who had been holding a decapitated bird, and the physician…
“The people I met were only the three…”
My mouth, which had opened to ask again, snapped shut.
There had been one more… Should I call it one person?
The master of the mountain named Horyeongsan (狐靈山). The one person who naturally would not address the original owner of this body, Lady Ho, with respect.
And among the few people I had met, the only being who had not respectfully called me my lady.
The enormous fox.
No. I had only ever read perfectly normal novels. I had never read the kind of novel where I had to take a monster fox as my husband.
As I desperately denied the fact I had recalled—
“You saw the master when he was in his true form.”
The single sentence Hwaya gave me was simple, and cruelly confirmed that my thoughts were correct.
The enormous monster fox I had met while fleeing in a panic was apparently my future husband.
The other party before whom I had trembled, wet myself, and collapsed was apparently the male lead.
I started to feel sorry toward the original owner of this body whom I had never met, and at the same time, I naturally understood why the male lead had not come to meet me.
It seemed I had been possessed into a romance fantasy.